Mark Scott will use his last major speech as ABC managing director to propose an overhaul of the way the ABC and SBS transmit their television channels, a move that could save taxpayers tens of millions of dollars a year.

The change, if implemented, could see the broadcasters reduce their number of television channels and eventually move some channels online.

Mr Scott will address the National Press Club on Wednesday, his final major speech before he steps down in May. It comes as a new report by the Australia Institute think tank calls for the ABC and SBS to combine their online operations as a way to avoid waste and overlap, but cautions against a broader merger.

"If we don't get the news money, jobs will go…and I've said to Canberra that there clearly will be content and programming consequences if that money doesn't come back.": ABC Managing Director Mark Scott. Photo: Mal Fairclough

Fairfax Media understands Mr Scott will argue there are significant benefits for the ABC and SBS to share their broadcasting spectrum. Moving both broadcasters onto a single broadcasting "multiplex" could save up to $150 million a year, half the amount the broadcasters spend annually on transmission fees. More money could be raised by selling the leftover spectrum to the private sector.

Under one scenario that has been considered at high levels, ABC and SBS would continue to broadcast separate primary channels but the youth-focussed ABC2 and SBS2 channels would be merged into one channel. In the longer-term, the ABC's children's channel, ABC3, and other channels could become online-only to save on broadcasting costs.

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Mr Scott will argue a more efficient use of broadcasting spectrum would free up money for the broadcasters to invest in new digital technologies. He will also repeat calls for extra government funding for regional news services.

Fairfax Media understands the federal government, including Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, sees reducing transmission costs as a key way to save money on the public broadcasters.

An efficiency review, commissioned by Mr Turnbull when he was communications minister, called for the ABC and SBS to share office space and to use the same catch-up service instead of maintaining iview and SBS On Demand separately.

A new report by the Australia Institute, examining how the two broadcasters could work together more closely, argues ABC and SBS would benefit by merging their online operations.

"The ABC, SBS and NITV maintain separate systems and infrastructure that provide fundamentally the same service, specifically media on-demand, news article publishing, and podcasting," the report, by researcher Fergus Pitt, says. "Given the apparent poor performance of SBS' online news - which should be an important part of SBS strategy and charter delivery - this seems a severe problem."

As well as saving money, combining the broadcasters' online operations would allow ABC content to be translated into foreign languages. But the report cautions that more radical changes - such as an administrative or back office merger - would not save enough money to justify risks such as watering down SBS's unique identity.

Mr Scott said at recent Senate estimates hearing: "SBS was created well before digitisation, well before digital television ... it's an analogue solution in a digital world."

He said that SBS was airing less foreign language than in a past and that offerings such as SBS2 were very similar to the ABC's programming.